ten.

Today marks 10 years since Kyle asked me to be his girlfriend. We were fifteen years old and on a school bus heading to a high school football game. He must have been quite smitten with me since I was wearing a less than adorable marching band uniform and he still somehow wanted me to be his girlfriend.

And now here we are, ten years later, spending this day with our new little bundle of sweetness. 

I'm a little more tired on this November 8 than I was on November 8, 2001. I don't mind it though. I am also far more in love than I was ten years ago. More in love with Kyle, in love with our sweet Annabelle and in love with this new chapter of our life.

Happy ten years to my wonderful husband. I imagine the next ten will be even more eventful than the first!

the final countdown.

Kyle and I have had several 'last' date nights over the last month. Obviously not all of them were the real last date before baby, but I felt like we needed to squeeze in a few extra fun nights before our little girl arrives. 

I also felt the need to snap pictures before each one, just in case it would turn out to be the last one. Kyle was very sweet to indulge me, not only in such fun dates, but in our self-timer photo shoots. 

A few Fridays ago we decided that we were bored and wanted to get out of the house. We wanted to do something more than just dinner so we hit up the local bowling alley before getting something to eat. We had a great time and it was fun to add something that we don't usually do to the date night routine.

Two weeks ago I got it in my head that we needed another last date. I mentioned several times during the week that I wanted to go on a real date. Bless sweet Kyle for putting up with me when I say ridiculous things like that. I mentioned to him that I missed the days when he had to ask me out on a date in advance and when dates were more 'official' than just getting in the car and going out to the usual restaurant. Seriously, the guy deserves a medal for putting up with me. I don't even know what I mean when I request such absurd things as real, official dates, I'm not sure how I expect him to decipher my codes.

Apparently he was paying attention because on this particular Saturday he went to the grocery store for me (which was already pretty stinking romantic to a 38 week pregnant girl) and came home with a beautiful bouquet of fall flowers. He also informed me that he had made dinner reservations at a restaurant that neither of us had ever been to before. After a minor 'what am I going to wear?!' meltdown, I was very excited about our fun night out!

(poor pregnant girl, it looks like I have dislocated my hip and am about to fall over. At least my husband is handsome and my fall wreath is pretty)

Dinner was so much fun! It was a small, local restaurant. The head chef/owner came out to meet us and congratulated us on our baby girl. They even had balloons waiting for us at the table, such a sweet, thoughtful touch! There was live jazz music and the most delicious food. We had such a great time. It was a really special night out.

And with our due date right around the corner, we decided to have one more last date this weekend. This one was pretty low key, but a great time nonetheless. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants and Kyle treated me to a Dairy Queen blizzard for dessert. The pregnant gal in this picture looks a little more exhausted than on the previous two last dates, but we had to snap a picture anyways. 

I am so glad we squeezed in all of these fun nights right at the end of our pregnancy. It has been so nice to get out of the house and spend some quality time together, away from baby to-do lists and the television. I think it is so important for all couples to real time together and I think that becomes even more important when little ones enter into the picture. I am thankful we took the time to do this now and set aside some time for one another before our little bundle of sweetness arrives. 

tale as old as time.

Kyle and I live really close to a fabulous theater in Atlanta. If you're from Houston, imagine living within walking distance of the Hobby Center... amazing! 

Beauty and the Beast was showing at the theater last week. For Christmas Kyle treated me to show tickets and dinner at a fabulous restaurant.

My favorite shoes even made an appearance that night.... (yes, there is a quilt hanging over my blinds. The sun POURS through that window and makes it hard for me to sew. We aren't bothering with curtains in the apartment)

We had dinner at Sun Dial Restaurant downtown. I have wanted to go to this restaurant since before I moved to Atlanta and it did not disappoint! The seating area rotates and you have a 360 degree view of the city. The restaurant is located in the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere. 

Our reservations were at 6:00 which was perfect. We were able to see the city in the daytime, see the beautiful sunset AND look out over the lights once the sun went down. Amazing!

The city was even more beautiful than usual because our dinner was a few days after the snowstorm. We could see some of the big city parks and they looked incredible covered in a sheet of white snow.

Waiting for our cab after dinner.

We had the best night. The show was fantastic and dinner was absolutely delicious! I am secretly hoping we'll have a special occasion pop up so we can go back soon.

Big thanks to Kyle for such a wonderful Christmas gift!

wilderness girl.

As most of you know by now, Kyle and I took off on a camping adventure last weekend. 

{pause so you can all chuckle at the idea of me camping}

Kyle camped a lot with his family growing up but this was the most real camping that I have ever done. I camped once in college with a big group of friends but we weren't really roughing it. I also don't think that my camping trip with my Brownie troop counts since it was a) in our assistant leaders backyard and b) my best friend and I ended up sleeping inside with our moms!

Kyle's brothers and a friend gave us a bunch of camping gear as a wedding gift. I guess they figured the only way I would be convinced to go camping with Kyle was if I didn't have to buy most of the stuff... smart boys! 

We camped at Red Top State Park and loved it! It was only about 45 minutes north of us so it was nice knowing that we weren't too far from home in case we had any problems. We had initially planned on going a few hours north to the North Georgia Mountains and I am so thankful that we didn't because they ended up having snow last weekend!

We headed to the park on Friday afternoon and got ready to set up our tent. Kyle started putting out the tarp and Tucker was busy exploring while I got things out of the car. It was raining just a little, but nothing bad at all. UNTIL it started to HAIL! It was insane! We knew that it may rain a bit Friday evening but my weatherman made not mention of a hailstorm. We waited it out in the car and then got back to work.

We had a great location looking out over the water.

After we got our campsite set up we took a little stroll down by the water. 

Tucker did some hurdles over the logs

This is what we woke up to Saturday and Sunday mornings. 

I just thought this was a pretty picture of our pup :)

If you're curious about Tucker's attire.... no, we do not typically dress our 50 pound friend. However, I was really worried that he was going to be cold. I found this great reversible 'jacket' that had a thick fleece lining. It may have made zero impact on how Tucker felt, but I worried about his comfort a lot less  when he had it on!

 Kyle made breakfast Saturday morning. We dined on scrambled eggs and bacon. Note: It is tricky to flip bacon with a plastic fork...

And while Kyle cooked, Tucker took a break from eating leaves to eat the camping platform. Rough life for that guy!

We bundled up after breakfast and went for a hike. I love this picture but hate that there is a giant shadow on my face. Any photoshop pros want to fix that for me?? 

Conversation following the above picture:

SK: Kyle! I look like a real wilderness girl!

KK: Steph, I don't think real wilderness girls wear pink sparkly scarves, J. Crew puffer vests and Versace sunglasses.

 We took naps after the hike. Pardon the fact that I look like the stay puft marshmallow man. It was freeeeeezing!

We had a great time and I think I would even go camping again. The roughest part for me was going to bed at night. It was SO COLD and my Texas bones just aren't made for that. Saturday night was even colder than Friday night so this is what I wore to bed:

two pairs of socks
one camisole

FOUR long-sleeved tshirts

a fleece vest

a fleece sweatshirt

Kyle's UT hoodie

I also had the warmth of a puppy dog who decided to spend the night asleep on my feet.

Not to mention that I pulled my sleeping bag and blanket up high enough to cover my entire face. I think that I may have slept a total of an hour Saturday night. It was rough!

So with the exception of Saturday's icy bed time, I loved spending the weekend with Kyle. It was so nice to get away from school and computers and spend time together without any distractions.

I have a feeling this was not my last camping trip and I am a-okay with that! My only request is that we invest in an air mattress for the next trip. If I have to freeze at night, I should at least have something soft to sleep on.

nine.

Nine years ago today Kyle asked me to be his girlfriend.

We just returned from a delicious dinner at Houston's to celebrate the fact that our relationship is almost a decade old. I know it's a bit odd that we still celebrate this anniversary, but we've been doing it since we were 15 and I hope we always will.

 I am so thankful that sweet, fifteen year old Kyle asked me to be his girlfriend and I can barely believe that it was nine years ago. And now here we are, living in Atlanta with a year and a half of marriage under our belts. Can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

Then:

Before celebrating our second anniversary at PF Chang's. We were super fancy that night and even got to borrow Kyle's dad's Camaro :) (Thanks, Scott!)

Now:

Anniversary number 9!

you know you're married to a phd student when.

You know you're married to a PhD student when...

• At dinner with your husband's friends, you don't understand 80% of the conversation.
• You are one of two people in that dinner group who is not pursuing a PhD.  
• You still get the student discount at the movie theater.
• It is hard to keep track of your husband's class schedule from semester-to-semester (or even day-to-day)
• Your husband still gets a Christmas break. 
• You find yourself having more conversations about Hilbert spaces, real analysis and computer programming than you ever thought you would.
• Even scarier, you are actually starting to understand some of the more basic things he is saying (thanks Dad for preparing me for electrical engineering wife-hood!)
• You know your husband's favorite study snack (chocolate chip cookie dough)
• You make that study snack every time test week comes around, in hopes that it will help to ease the stress.
• Meals are scheduled around how much time away from studying he can spend eating dinner (or helping clean it up)
• You requested your own DVR in the bedroom just so you don't always annoy him with watching Real Housewives and Project Runway while he studies.
• Your husband has been known to go to bed at 5:00 am... not because of watching tv but because of writing papers.
• The papers your husband writes are so complicated that you can't even offer to help him edit them. (I offer my dad instead!)
• Your heart almost explodes from pride when you realize that all of his efforts are not just because he loves school (I'm pretty sure love is not the emotion he is feeling right now). They are because he wants to travel to Rome one day... buy a beautiful home... send kids to college... buy a grand piano... take ski vacations... have NBA season tickets... travel to visit our families... provide for his family... and he wants to do all of this with me. I think it's safe to say that I am a very proud, incredibly lucky girl.

Thanks for indulging me in a sappy post! Pictures from our fun weekend still to come!

90210.

I know the twitter world has been all a-buzz because today is 90210 day... you know, as in that famous zip code. To me though, the day is special because....

it's my birthday!!

I love birthdays. I think they are wonderfully fun days and when it comes to birthdays and Christmas, I get as excited as a four year old. I love that everyone is a little sweeter and even boring days seem just a little more special because there is something to celebrate. In my opinion, birthdays are pure fun!

I have had such a great birthday, despite the fact that I had to wake up early and go to work. Here's a little run-down and some pictures from the day. A certain sister of mine is very insistent that I share birthday pictures asap and I'd pretty much do anything for that girl so here we go...

My day started out with a yummy omelet from Kyle. It was much more delicious than the smoothie I typically drink on my way to work!

One of my favorite people at work decorated the door to our classroom... I took a picture but would rather not tell the whole world what school I work at. Just picture pink streamers and birthday banners... so sweet!

My little ones at school also sang me a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday. Most of the words weren't right but hearing those 12 little munchkins singing for me was a highlight of the day. After my song, they all paraded over to me so I could have some special birthday hugs. It melted my heart!

My usual lunch was replaced by a birthday date with Kyle. We dined at Chili's followed by a Starbucks drink for me. After lunch Kyle stopped by the school to meet a few of my co-workers and of course meet the little ones that I spend my days with. They were all just waking up from their nap when Kyle got there so he didn't get a true impression of how crazy our classroom can be!!

The second half of the day was exhausting but I survived and came home to a beautiful display on my kitchen table!

{roses from Jenn and purples pretties from the hubs!}

I even got some lovely presents....

{I know I don't look my birthday best. That's what happens after a day with a million 2 year olds. I just love my sister enough to share these pictures in spite of that!}

A gorgeous J. Crew necklace and bracelet from Jenn! (I have no idea what I am doing with my right hand...)

Presents!! And yes, Tucker got me a birthday card... it was hilarious!

Kyle made a delicious dinner and then we spent some time playing with one of my presents....

Oh.my.goodness. This game is so fun! We haven't played through all of the songs but so far we are loving it! I see a lot of dance parties in our future!

It was a fantastic day and the fun is just beginning! My mom and dad will be here tomorrow and are staying through Sunday. We have some things on the agenda and I can't wait to tell all of you about the rest of the weekend. 

Thanks so much to all of my friends and loved ones for the sweet birthday wishes and thoughtful words and cards. I love you all so much and am incredibly blessed to have all of you in my life. 

I'm off to enjoy some of my beautiful birthday cake and watch this week's Project Runway. Happy birthday to me!

baby let's cruise

Get excited people... it's finally time for our cruise photos! I know they are WAY overdue... but here ya go!

We stayed at the Hotel Icon the night before we left. We had spent the night there after the wedding and thought it would be fun to go back on our anniversary. It is a gorgeous hotel and I love getting to stay there. We also had dinner at Pappa's Grill  (formerly C&H). We also had dinner there the night we got engaged (May 24, 2009) so it was special to have dinner there on our wedding anniversary. We've celebrated birthdays there as well so the restaurant holds a special place in our hearts. 

After dinner we went to a comedy show downtown. Kyle's parents gave us the tickets and told us that it was a comedy show all about marriage. We were a bit skeptical when we saw our tickets and discovered that it was a show performed by a nun. I think we both started thinking we were going to end up in a something more similar to our marriage prep classes. We were even more unsure when  our seats turned out to be on the front row of a theater that seats less than 100 people. The show was HILARIOUS and I am so glad we ended up going. We obviously got picked on a bit since we were seated front and center but it was all in good fun.

We took a 5 day cruise out of Galveston on the Carnival Ecstasy. Kyle had been on a cruise once before but this was my first time. We had a fabulous time and we've already started trying to convince our families to go on another one with us!

See ya later, Galveston!

Oh you know... just hanging on the golf course

Before one of the shows on the ship

The boat made two stops, one in Progreso and the other in Cozumel. We got off the ship at each stop but definitely preferred spending time in Cozumel more than Progreso. I'll let the pictures from Progreso paint the picture for you...

Riding the bus to town... so excited!!

Back on the bus heading to the ship.... a whopping 45 minutes later!

The spelling nerd in me had a problem with this banner...

Off the boat in Cozumel... ready to go shopping!

We hit up the shops in Cozumel and had lunch in town. On our way back to the ship we found a little taste of home...

Can you spy the other familiar store in this picture?? We didn't go in but I'm thinking this Tiffany's wasn't exactly like the one I am used to!

Heading to a show...

The cruise was a wonderful way to celebrate our first anniversary! It was completely stress-free and a great time from start to finish!